So this is it. My final blog of my species a day challenge for January! I think what I will do from now on is do twice weekly posts with maybe some non-sightings posts about wildlife recording in general. I may go back to one a day in another month. I really wanted to do a Bird of Prey (or raptor as they are also known collectively) for my last one as they are my favourite types of bird, but it required me to see one as I’ve not seen one for a while. Luckily I had a choice of three today, a Common Buzzard flew over my house earlier and when out and about I saw a hunting Kestrel and two females of today’s subject.
What: (Eurasian) Sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus (Linnaeus, 1758)
When: 31st January 2020
Where: Jackson’s Brickworks Local Nature Reserve, Cheshire, UK
Who saw it? Me
How was it recorded? On the eBird app.
Is it bigger than a blackbird? Yes, although they are relatively small for a hawk.
What is it? A bird of prey in the Accipitridae family which also includes buzzards, eagles, kites and harriers (but not falcons). Like many small Birds of Prey there is a marked sized difference between the male and female, with the males being small and hunting sparrows, tits, and finches etc and the females being larger and hunting thrushes and starling sized birds. They are one of the commonest bird of prey in the UK but are always elusive; but they will be one of the only birds of prey seen in suburban gardens (usually after a kill). The population (like all raptors) crashed in the 1950s due to insecticides strengthening up the food chain and ultimately weakening eggs. After these were banned the population recovered.
A fact I have learned about this species: All small birds were once known colloquially as ‘sparrows’ (not just house and tree sparrows). And as the male of this species hunts small birds it became known as the sparrowhawk (or in Old English – pre-Norman Conquest English, spearhafoc). Ref: Lockwood, W. B. (1984) The Oxford Book of British Bird Names Oxford University Press, Oxford
Is it charismatic in my opinion? I’d say enigmatic rather than charismatic as you very rarely see them even though they are relatively common. You normally just get a flash of a bird as it passes between hedges. Occasionally they’ll take a bird in the garden and then you’ll get a good view, but normally blink and you’ll miss it. They are loud and obnoxious compared to their uber-elusive cousin the Goshawk however.
A Species a Day 